Canon 550D Problems

Psyoletic · 26 May 2012 at 20:22

Evening all,

I haven't had much time to use my Canon 550D which I bought round about start of this year. Considering the weather I wanted to get back into photography and go out and shoot but I'm having trouble with the camera.

I don't know how to describe it but every photograph or video footage just looks bad, like they were taken by a webcam. There's no sharpness or crispness to the imagery and even when I take a 1080p 25FPS recording it looks really bad. Quiet cheap looking to.

Start of this year I was able to take photographs like these.

The photographs look stunning, crisp, sharp and focused.

Few test shots from outside my bedroom window.

IMG_0344 by Psyoletic, on Flickr

IMG_0343 by Psyoletic, on Flickr

IMG_0342 by Psyoletic, on Flickr

IMG_0341 by Psyoletic, on Flickr

I don't know if I'm getting my point across, but the quality in the photographs are nothing compared to how they were when I first used the camera. Even the video footage was clear and focused.

I was reading on the internet about the 550D's front focusing? And somewhere else that the camera might need re-calibrating? It's still under warranty and I would rather ask someone with much more experience then me before I send it off.

Regards,

Psyoletic

James J · 26 May 2012 at 21:09

Not sure I get your point here but you are shooting using auto in very bright conditions. That just isn't gonna work, especially given the strong shade you have in the photos you've presented. Can you put the camera in manual, meter one of the bright areas using spot/centre weighted and take some other photos?

ARD · 26 May 2012 at 21:17

As James says - the difference in conditions from the first photos to the ones you took today will have an effect on the images. On the shot showing the hedge, parts of the hedge are crisp, so I presume the the focus was on that. Bright sunlight will effect how videos look, years ago when I used to video weddings, an overcast day was by far the best, bright sunlight caused all sorts of problems with the camera hunting to try and correct exposure etc.

pecnarf · 26 May 2012 at 23:54

had quick look at your exif info on flickr from what i can tell you using auto. which isn't bad but you really want to be using CA out of the auto modes, as that give you more option to play with if you think not ready use Tv,P,M modes, as these mode will let you use the camera to full potential. the only thing i can suggest for now if you wish to improve these photo is do some post processing work on them. also what file type are you shooting in jpg or RAW as if you shooting in jpg i strongly suggest switching to RAW as it will let to do lot more post processing than Jpg.

ps little tip try playing around with the tv & p mode before you move on the m. as once you got handle on using tv & p mode you find moving on to using m mode a lot more easier to do, than going stange to m mode.

K.C. Leblanc · 27 May 2012 at 13:33

Have you made sure the camera is selecting the correct focus point?

You really need to be a little more scientific to check a camera is focusing properly. Pointing it out of the window isn't really going to give you a proper idea.

Psyoletic · 27 May 2012 at 18:53

Sorry I should have elaborated more, I have a fairly good knowledge on photography and I was getting some good results on my last camera (400D) and since moving to the 550D I feel like what I learnt on the 400D doesn't apply on the 550D.

On the three test photos I used the "Landscape" feature and AUTO which I assume there both very similar anyway. Having been out of touch with photography for nearly half a year I'm just through the process of refreshing my memory.

I always use RAW sometimes RAW+L if the computer I'm using at the time doesn't have a RAW viewer but that's a rarity these days. I used to use Manual, AV and TV quiet allot and never use AUTO but what I though was just to test the camera I took some AUTO photographs and see what came out and I was worried because they looked awful compared to some photographs I took with my old camera.

If it's primary down to user error and inexperience I'll stick my learning hat on and relearn again.

I'll take some more photographs in a minute and see the results.

James J · 27 May 2012 at 21:03

I'd put this down to just using auto to be at fault with its metering tbh.

ARD · 27 May 2012 at 21:40

I wouldn't say inexperience as you have used a camera for some time. But it is easy to overlook to most fundamental settings. Get out and about with the camera, take shots of the same subject using different settings etc, you'll soon be back into it

totoro · 28 May 2012 at 06:38

You are trying to take shots in a very difficult situation there. Very sunny bright sunshine one side and dark shadow the other. The camera doesn't have the dynamic range to cover the entire range of shades. In situations like that you need to decide whats important in your scene and meter for it. Using something like partial or spot metering would help. Say you wanted to shoot the car, you could get it nicely exposed at the expense of the grass lawn being really dark.

Try taking some shots early morning or evening before sunset and see the difference.
Shoot a few flowers or something in Av mode. Get nice and close and use a low F stop such as F2.8 - F5.6 and your lens set to 28-50mm. IF the shutter speed gets to low...say below 120 or something then increase ISO until its fast enough.